Death to dividends

Hundreds of US companies are throwing away millions in shareholders' money every quarter; corporate leaders are desperate to bury the profligacy once and for all; and investors are lining up to eulogize the soon-to-be-extinct practice. 'Problem is,' muses the Vanguard Group's Douglas Roman, 'no company wants to be the first one to do it.' This hollow-eyed zombie teetering toward oblivion is the dividend. The bullish stock market has so outstripped weakening payouts that investing for dividends is